2004-10-30 - The original builder was E. & G. G. Hook (1857, Opus 221). -Database Manager
2004-10-30 - Rebuilt of Hook previously rebuilt by Andover 1966. Restored and altered, by Jeremy Cooper, 1995. -Database Manager
2023-04-08 - This work was not a restoration or a rebuild. It was simply a cleaning, washing of pipes, and regulation of the action. -Scot Huntington
2023-04-15 - The church was built of a water source, and continually battled a problem with dampness. While the Andover re-trackerization was only 10 years old, the aluminum action had corroded badly in that time, and had started hanging up badly in the guides. On top of that, the church had neglected the organ's maintenance since the 1966 restoration, had failed to cover the organ during extensive interior renovations which had been filled with dust as a consequence, and many of the splitting wood pipes had only received temporary repairs, and the problem had only accelerated. The contract in the amount of $3,900.00 was signed in the late spring of 1976, with a non-specified completion date. The job took four years to complete, during which time the church expressed its increasing consternation. The contract included several upgrade options, which the church chose not to purchase, but at least two were completed above the contract. The terms included: - Remove all pipework for cleaning, de-denting, and the metal pipes were fitted with slide tuners- the cone-tuned metal pipes being straightened and repaired. - Organ interior cleaned, sliders re-shimed and graphited, rackboards repaired, and bungs re-gasketed. Wood pipe stoppers to be re-gasketed. - Springs lightened. Options included: - "Re-trackerize" pedal: i.e. replace long corroded aluminum trackers passing through multiple guides, with wood. Completed above contract at no charge. - Replace Mixture III: pipes were missing and found badly crushed under the reservoir. Those that could be repaired, were reinstalled, but the top 18 notes were beyond salvage and not replaced. - Replaced Spencer blower with silent German blower: not completed until ca. 1987 by Alan McNeely, with a unit too small to properly wind the organ. - Replace poor-quality and badly split Gilbert & Butler wood pipes: pipes were instead repaired, above the contract, but church advised these were only provisional repairs and the ranks needed eventual replacement with pipes of higher quality. - Replace the old rectifier: not done - Replaced the missing Pedal Violoncello stop with new Octave 8': pipes for the G&B Cello from 4' C were found in building and repaired, the Organ Clearing House provided a bottom octave gratis. - Rebuild action floating rails with stiffer timbers to eliminate sagging: not done - Replace Hall stop motors with new: not done There were several ranks of string pipes not reinstalled in the organ after the Andover rebuild as they were collapsing and badly dented. They existed in trays on the church property, but were never reinstalled. When the "reconstructed" Hook was built by Jeremy Cooper in 1992, the Organ Clearing House took possession of all the unused G&B material and put it in storage in a repurposed Christian day school in Harrisville N.H. where it was damaged beyond repair by a series of roof leaks and was junked. -Scot Huntington
Source: Contract and examination of organ 1980/1990
Richard Craig Hamar (1978)
via Andover Organ Co. 1966
rb. Gilbert & Butler 1895
E. & G.G. Hook 1857
First Congregational Church
Norwichtown, Conn.
Compasses: 61/30
GREAT
8' Open Diapason interior pipes fitted with slide tuners
8' Melodia Hook, new tuning flaps; stopped basses
8' empty Dulciana pipes now in Swell
4' Octave Hook, fitted with slide tuners
4' Flute Hook, chimney flute, G&B basses repaired
2 2/3' Twelfth Hook, new slide tuners
2' Fifteenth Hook, new slide tuners
III Mixture G&B, 2', 1 1/3', 1';
extensive repair, new slide tuners, top 18 notes missing
8' Trumpet G&B, restored by Dave Broome
SWELL
16' Bourdon G&B, extensive repairs
8' Open Diapason Hook, new slide tuners; 1-12 stop wood G&B, repaired
8' Gamba Hook?, marked Gr. Dulciana, new tuners; Gamba pipes in storage
8' Stopped Diapason Hook treble, metal rohrflute; G&B wood bass extensive repairs
8' empty Aeoline pipes in storage
4' Violina Hook Sw. Principal, G&B basses, new slide tuners
4' Harmonic Flute G&B, new slide tuners
2' Piccolo G&B, new slide tuners
8' Oboe Hook?, t.c., restored by Dave Broome
8' Bassoon G&B, 1-12, restored by Dave Broome
Tremolo Hall, beater style
PEDAL
16' Open Diapason G&B, extensive repairs
16' Bourdon Hook 1-12; rest G&B, extensive repairs
8' Violoncello G&B treble; spurious 1-12 via OCH; new tuners
Swell to Great
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
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